Rebuild / Load NEXEL-Files
Is there a way to restore a saved NEXEL table (xxx.nxl)?
In the concrete case I have saved a very complex DataView as xxx.nxl via the NEXEL-Editor, in order to execute the calculations afterwards by procedure call.
I accidentally deleted the "original" DataView ;-( and now unfortunately have to work on the NEXEL table again. Since I have hidden columns in the DataView, I can no longer access the information I need via the process editor.
Therefore again my question: Is there a possibility to restore a saved NEXEL table (xxx.nxl) or to "reload" it into a DataView?
Thanks in Advance
Dirk
Answers
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Hi dirk magerkord, In short, No.
I am not aware of any way a nexel configuration can be reused in a reconstructed object as changing the dataview layout will break the link to the NEXEL file.
Each Nexel configuration resides as a file in the [database].hbmp folders but a nexel config is a part of the object which gives the NEXEL config its context, not the other way round.
A dataview/object with a nexel config can be duplicated and allow the user to select the nexel config from the saved library. Also, the layout of a dataview containing a nexel config can be copied and pasted into a new dataview and, using the Fx menu option, allow the user to re-apply the nexel from the saved library.
Deleting and re-creating any block on any nexel configured model, however, results in breaking the link of that object to the nexel config. Only with the original block layout can a 'new' nexel config be saved to the library either as a new config or overwriting the original one by using the same name.
NEXEL is amazing and allows for some fantastic modelling to be achieved but it really should come with a caveat:
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Hi Paul Wyatt - Avison Young UK
You're absolutely right! NEXEL is really amazing and makes it possible to achieve some fantastic modeling. That's the reason why I like to work with it.Thank you very much for your helpful hints. Although, it's really a pity that you don't come back to a DataView "from behind".
It is as it is. In the future I will have to be more careful and create additional backups for my NEXEL table ;-)
Again, thank you very much!
Dirk
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It might be worth raising this issue as an IDEA? I would certainly vote for it.
NEXEL uses formulation and structure that we all understand and have been using for absolutely years - Excel - which allows for very powerful modelling before new users have even learnt the advanced features of BOARD. Viewed in this way, NEXEL actually helps with early BOARD adoption within a company and so making it a very strong selling point.
Used with BOARD advanced features, NEXEL is an immensely powerful tool; I've created a Radius Around a Point On a Map (RAPOM) which uses:
- Real time user inputs via data entry to set a target property and the miles radius value
- Dataview validation
- Triggered procedures
- Selections based on cubes
and that is before we get to the visuals of the map object which use dynamic property location circle radius' and colour banding calculated by another Nexel config.
I think that the Nexel process should save two structures; Nexel formulation and that of the dataview/object blocks. This should be easy to implement as we have been able to copy./paste layouts for some time.
Due to its power and versatility and due to its shortcomings, I feel that NEXEL is still a 'beta' feature. In support of this opinion is the fact that it is too easy to break the structure and the subsequent nexel file is not deleted from the hbmp folder after it has become detached from the source object.
This is a point of BOARD development housekeeping which has, at the very least, been overlooked because why would you keep a file that you can not use again in any way? It can't even be viewed by a developer? What the now dead file does do is 'taunt' developers that find it, making them think that they can somehow bring back from the dead 'that brilliant dataview' that took hours to create and seconds to accidentally destroy...ah, the life of a developer.
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